Physicians often refer to data obtained from blood analysis, urine analysis and the like when diagnosing the condition of a patient. Such blood analysis and urine analysis involves the use of blood cell counters which count and classify blood cells contained in blood samples, blood coagulation measuring apparatuses which analyze blood coagulation function, immunoanalyzers which analyze cancer morbidity and the presence of hepatitis virus and the like using an antigen-antibody reaction, biochemical analyzers which chemically analyze proteins, and urine analyzers which analyze urine composition.
There are various types of such examinations, and various data items are included in the examination data. Moreover, since a single ailment can influence the examination data of various items, the physician must be cognizant of the influences on the form of items (for example, high and low values diverging from the normal value range of healthy individuals) caused by an ailment when specifically considering that particular ailment. The physician thus bears a considerable burden in confirming the possibility of an ailment when using such examination data in the diagnosis. Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 11-326315 discloses a method of judging a type of anemia, the ailment of β-thalassemia, with a high degree of sensitivity based on analysis results. Such judging results may assist in the diagnosis if provided to the physician together with the examination data. Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 7-57018 discloses a comprehensive medical diagnosis assisting apparatus which specifies an ailment name by fuzzy logic using a plurality of clinical examination data output from an automated biochemical analyzer, and displays the specified ailment name.
The apparatus disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 7-57018 only displays the specified ailment name and ailment region, however, and is not configured to further display information referenced in making the diagnosis, such as characteristics of the ailment and cited literature. The physician must therefore personally seek further information when considering the diagnosis of the ailment.